Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne
by La Mademoiselle
Summary: DenFem!Nor, country names used. An adaptation of the Norwegian fairytale East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Young Norway meets an enchanted bear and is swept up into a journey to save her prince from the Troll King and Princess
1. Introduction

_**Introduction**_

Just so I don't have to keep writing lengthy Author's notes/language notes at the beginning of each chapter.

Welcome to **Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne** (See below) a rather lengthy project by yours truly, La Mademoiselle.

What we have here is a Hetalia fic based off the Norwegian fairytale "Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne". As you'll see, it's about a girl and a polar bear and trolls. I've remained very close to the original story, however, I have tweaked some things around to fit the characters or just change the way an event played out, for instance, Norge is a whole hell of a lot less weepy than the heroine of the original story. I've also taken some liberties with the characters (especially Danmark) in order to try and stick as close to my source as possible.

That said, onto my more important little notes.

As this is originally a Norwegian tale and our heroine is Norway, all the characters go by the Norwegian language version of their nation names which are as follows:

Belarus: Hviterussland

Denmark: Danmark

Estonia: Estland

Finland: Finland

Iceland: Island

Latvia: Latvia

Lithuania: Litauen

Norway: Norge

Russia: Russland

Sweden: Sverige

Ukraine: Ukraina

**Pairing:** DenmarkxFem!Norway, meaning Hetero, don't like, don't waste the brain cells reading it.

**Warnings:** Rambling, I was up all night writing most of this, so some things may or may not be completely coherent, if there is a problem, please politely point it out to me and I'll go back and edit… again.

**Language Notes:**

Isbjørn (Norwegian): lit. Ice Bear, Polar bear

Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne (Norwegian): East of the Sun and West of the Moon

Ja (Germanic/Nordic): Yes

Djævel! (Danish): Damn it!/Shit!/etc.

Slutten (Norwegian): The End

**DISCLAIMER: HETALIA IS NOT MINE, THE STORY ITSELF IS NOT MINE, THE ADAPTATION AND THE WORDS I HAVE TYPED ARE**


	2. Piken og bjørnen The girl and the bear

_**Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne**_

Once upon a time, in the frozen North, there lived a woodcutter named Germania. He and his wife Ukraina had several children, however times were hard and the family hardly had enough to feed everyone. The winter had lasted much longer than was normal, the snows piling up beside the tiny cottage where the family huddled by the meager fire to keep warm.

One day, after a bad storm had passed, the family was sitting down with their scant dinner of lefse and watery soup. A sudden gust of wind startled them all by blowing open one of the window flaps. Germania jumped up to close it and was startled to see two coal-black eyes staring at him on the other side of the window. He stumbled backwards with a strangled shout as the eyes moved away and the door slammed open to allow the largest _isbjørn_ anyone in the family had ever seen to enter the tiny cottage, staring around at all the occupants. Its fur was whiter than the snow outside, it eyes blacker then the darkest night with an intelligence in them not found in animals. Sensing the bear was no normal creature, Germania stood up with the axe he used for cutting wood, putting himself between the bear and his family. "What business have you here, _isbjørn_?" he asked, thinking that there was troll magic behind this.

"Your youngest daughter… give her to me," the _isbjørn_ rumbled, "if you do, you will become as rich as you are poor." The family looked between each other. To be rich… that was something beyond their wildest dreams.

Now, the youngest daughter, a girl called Norge, stood towards the back of her family, wondering what the bear wanted with her. She was known to be very beautiful, but she rarely smiled or showed emotion, giving her an icy, distant demeanor. She looked that bear dead in the eye, as if she knew right away that he was going to be nothing but trouble later. "No," she said and that was that. She refused to listen to her brothers and sisters pleading for her to see sense and do as the bear said for the good of the family.

Unfortunately, Germania was forced to turn the bear away, promising to talk to his daughter and that he should return in a week to take her. The bear agreed and left.

Finally, after a few days, Germania was able to talk his cold, stubborn daughter into going with the bear. She packed her few possessions as the bear returned to the tiny cottage. "Climb upon my back," he told her, "we will be moving quickly, so hold onto my fur."

"Alright…" Norge sighed, making sure she had a tight grasp on the soft white fur and the _isbjørn_ began to run, faster than any animal she'd ever seen. The scenery around her passed in a blur, everything merging with everything else. The wind whipped around her, howling in her ears, sending her pale blonde hair flying out behind her and causing her eyes to sting, so she shut them and buried her face in the _isbjørn's_ fur.

He paused after what seemed like hours, standing in front of a tall mountain. "We are almost to my home," he said, turning to look at her as she sat up. "Are you afraid?"

The girl looked him in the eye with her emotionless gaze. "No," she told him. He made a sound of approval and started to run again. As the mountain grew nearer and nearer, Norge could see the outline of a castle carved out of what looked like green ice. The _isbjørn_ lived here? She stared as they approached large doors. She'd imagined him living in a deep, dark cave.

"I must leave you now," the bear said as he walked into a large entrance hall and pausing to let her slide off his back. "A servant will show you to your rooms." He lumbered away, leaving the girl alone in the vast hall, staring around until a small boy came and tugged on her sleeve."

"T-T-This way please, Miss," he said, pointing a shaking finger towards another door. "My n-name's L-Latvia, if you n-need anything, y-you only have t-t-to ring this b-bell." He handed her a small silver bell, leading her to a set of rooms as large as the cottage she lived in with her family. "D-D-Dinner will be i-in an hour…" and with that, she was alone. She began exploring the cavernous rooms, amazed at how fine everything was. She laid on a the fluffy fur rug for ten minutes before getting up and trying the bed, dozing off after her long journey and dreaming of trolls chasing the _isbjørn_ into a palace made of ice. "M-Miss…?" Latvia was shaking her awake, looking more nervous than he was before. "A-Are you hungry…?"

She blinked for a moment, remembering where she was before nodding. "_Ja_, I am," she stood up, following the trembling boy to an even larger room where a long table laden with foods Norge had never seen before and let Latvia seat her at the end. A few minutes later, the _isbjørn_ joined her, standing to her side.

"Is everything to your liking?" he asked as she took a bite of some kind of fish she'd never seen.

"It is…" she said, doing her best to eat politely as she'd never had anything so delicious. The _isbjørn_ seemed to smile as he watched her eat. Soon, she was couldn't eat another bite and let Latvia lead her back to her rooms.

"Good night…" the boy said, shutting the door behind him. Norge sighed, feeling tired despite her nap earlier and crawled under the covers.

She was awakened a little while later by a loud sound coming somewhere nearby. The room was pitch black, so much so that she could barely see the outline of her hand in her face. It was freezing too.

There was movement behind her and she forced herself to remain lying still as someone crawled into bed next to her. Finally he or she settled, leaving Norge on edge. She was not someone who was easily frightened, but the fact that she couldn't see in the black and there was a stranger in her bed unnerved her, even when the person's breathing evened out, signifying sleep. She just couldn't sleep, but she tried.

Sleep proved impossible… especially when whoever was beside her began to snore… loudly. After a while, poor Norge was forced to take her pillow and hold it over her head to try and block the noise. She briefly considered taking it and smothering her mysterious bedmate with it but decided that she didn't want to share a room or bed with a corpse and tried to deal with it.

The night progressed with no break in the accursed snoring, but Norge was starting to _finally_ drift off when her bedmate moved, rolling over and stealing most of her blankets. The girl shivered and sat up, scowling through the darkness at the stranger she couldn't see and lay back down, dragging the blankets back over her body. The snorer grunted once and rolled again, this time right on top of her.

By God he, for she could feel that the stranger was a man, was heavy! Norge pushed and shoved, managing to nudge him off of her, unable to dislodge the arm he settled around her waist. Quite fed up with him and his snoring, which only seemed to get louder due to the fact that he was snoring right into her ear, Norge crossed her arms and glared at the darkness.

She somehow fell asleep with all that noise and woke up the next morning to find the bed missing its second occupant. Well… since the one making all that blasted noise was gone, Norge settled back down under the blankets and decided to go back to sleep if it wasn't for someone shaking her. "I-It's time for breakfast…" Latvia squeaked, backing away when she sat up, looking at her with her normal blank face.

Ten minutes passed and she was sitting in the dining hall with her _isbjørn_ host, eating something he called griddle cakes with some kind of sweet, sticky syrup on them. "Is there someone else in the castle?" she inquired of the bear who oddly seemed to start when she mentioned it. "Last night a man crawled in bed with me. He was dreadfully loud and heavy."

"There is no one here but you, the servants, and I," he told her brusquely and that was the end of the conversation for he left immediately afterwards. Left to her own devices, Norge set out to explore the castle, finding little of interest to her. When Latvia came to summon her to lunch, she asked him the same thing she'd asked the bear that morning.

"N-N-No, Miss…" he stammered, his trembling turning even more violent, "T-There is no o-one here but you, the m-m-master, and us se-servants…"

"Well, _someone_ crawled into bed with me last night…" she said, "if wasn't you or one of the servants, or the _isbjørn_, then who was it?" Latvia shook his head, insisting that he didn't know the answer to her question.


	3. Den fremmede prinsen The Stranger Prince

Things fell into routine over the next few months: Latvia would wake her in the morning and she'd eat breakfast, wander about the castle until lunch, wander the castle some more… at least until she found the library, eat dinner, and go to bed. Every night, after she put out the light, the strange man would get into bed with her. While at first she had trouble sleeping due to his restlessness and his snoring, she got used to it, even found she liked having the noise as she drifted off to sleep. She wondered who he was and had even tried talking to him, except he was asleep moments after getting in bed with her.

This annoyed her to no end.

She also began to grow bored since there was very little around the castle to entertain herself with. She tried engaging her host in conversation, but he seemed to deflect all the questions she asked of him and instead asked her for stories or songs from her childhood.

There was only so much a girl could take and after a while, young Norge felt her spirits dropping. She missed her family, her mother and father, all her rambunctious brothers and sisters. She wondered how they were doing and if they were living comfortably now as the bear had promised. The _isbjørn_ seemed to realize this and, after breakfast one morning, approached her.

"Would you like to visit your family?" he asked, looking her in the eyes. She shivered, seeing something like pain in the great black depths and nodded. "I can take you to them, but you must return with me when I say," he sighed.

"Alright then," she agreed, wondering why he seemed to be upset at her leaving. "I promise I'll return with you." He left her to finish eating, telling her to prepare to leave.

Soon, she was riding across the landscape on his back, clutching his fur as she had when he'd taken her to his castle. "Be very careful," he warned her, "Don't let your mother draw you away in private, make sure you say that whatever she wants to say to you, she can say in front of all your family. If she does, you must promise to not listen to her advice." Norge promised as the bear came to a stop in front of a grand house where her siblings all tumbled about, smiling and laughing. "As promised, your family became rich, and this is how they live now," he told her, letting her down, "now remember your promise to return." Norge nodded, watching him run off into the distance, feeling an odd pang in her heart as he disappeared from her sight.

Her family was overjoyed to see her return and they all gathered around her, pelting her with questions. She did not smiled and laugh with them, but they understood it was not in her nature to do so and welcomed her back with open arms.

She spent the next few days with her family, managing to successfully avoid her mother who tried to draw her away at every opportunity she could until she could do so no more. After a while, Norge told the entire story of the castle and of the mysterious man in her bed at night. Concerned, Ukraina went and gave her a small candle stub. "Use this to see him once he's asleep," she told her daughter, "Take care not to drip any tallow on him though." Norge nodded, hearing her father call that the _isbjørn_ had returned for her. She said her goodbyes as she climbed onto the bear's back once more and he started to run back to the castle.

"Did you do as I asked and avoided your mother?" he inquired, she admitted she tried and failed and he sighed, "Don't follow her advice, otherwise bad things will happen."

"What will happen?" she blinked, wondering what harm the little candle stub could cause.

"I don't know," he shrugged, "just bad things." Norge sighed. He was doing a terrible job of trying to hide something from her, but she didn't say anything the entire way back to the castle.

That night, she put out her light and settled down, seeming to sleep, waiting for her bedmate to crawl into bed with her. He did and she waited until she heard him snoring to tell her he was asleep and slowly sat up, pulling out the little candle stub her mother had given her and lit it.

He was a man, she knew that right away, strong-looking and around her age. His hair was a shade of blond not unlike wheat in the summer and untidy, yet it seemed to fit his handsome face… or rather… the face that would have been handsome if not for the fact that his mouth was hanging open in a rather unattractive way and there was a line of drool from the corner of his mouth. On the whole, he wasn't bad to look at, even she had to admit. Leaning forward to inspect him better, Norge didn't notice some of the hot tallow from the candle start to drip onto his shirt, creating three stains.

"Djævel! That's hot!" he yelped, eyes flying open as he lurched upright. Norge was barely able to save the candle and leaped out of bed, quickly lighting her lamp before the tallow burned her.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded of the mystery man, putting her hands on her hips despite the sullen, aggravated look on his face. "Why have you been coming into my room every night?"

"I was _trying_ to be sneaky," he huffed.

"You failed miserably," she pointed out, picking up her pillow and smacking him with it as hard as she could.

"Wha-? What the hell?" he blinked bright blue eyes at her, looking extremely confused.

"Having to put up with your damn snoring, and hogging the blankets, and draping yourself over me," she told him, "You realize the master of this castle is a giant _isbjørn_."

"_Ja_, _ja_, I know that!" he snapped, "Didn't I tell you not to listen to her mother?" She stopped and blinked at him.

"_You're_ the bear?" she asked, trying to recognize anything of her strange host in this rather rude, obnoxious stranger. "What in the world is going on?"

"I dunno! I was just doing my thing, being this awesome Prince of Scandinavia and I come upon this really hot girl in the woods and she tells me to come back to her place. Turned out she was some kinda troll princess named Hviterussland and she had her really creepy Troll King brother Russland turn me into a god damn bear. Turns out, she was looking for a husband and if I had to find a girl who could stay with me for a year and a day and not look at me when I slept in her bed at night, I'd be free," he explained, glaring at her, "You couldn't have waited just one more day, could you? Now I'm stuck marrying some creepy little troll princess who has the hots for her brother, thanks a lot, Norge."

She hit him with the pillow again.

"What was that for?" he yelped, rubbing his nose.

"Being stupid and following some pretty girl before making sure she wasn't a troll."

"Still doesn't change the fact that tomorrow she's going to come drag me to her castle east of the sun and west of the moon and make me marry her," he grumbled miserably and Norge felt bad. She just _had_ to let her curiosity get the better of her and now this poor idiot was going to be stuck with a troll. "It's too bad… I was really hoping we could hit it off after this troll thing blew over…" he sighed.

Norge thought this over, "What if I came and rescued you?"

"You could try," he shrugged, "But this castle's pretty much impossible to get to, I couldn't even tell you the way." His eyes seemed to dull a bit and she could see the weariness behind that blue gaze.

"I'm sorry… um…" she didn't want to call him _isbjørn_, and she didn't know his proper name.

"Danmark, Prince Danmark of Scandinavia!" he seemed to perk up a little at this, "I was going to be king…" He looked at her. "Well… I might as well make this count since we don't have much time left," Danmark shrugged, leaning forward to cup her face in a callused hand, and kissed her softly on the mouth. It took her by surprise, but Norge closed her eyes, kissing him back in a rather clumsy, inexperienced manner.

"I'll come and save you from the trolls," she told him once they'd pulled apart, "I broke a promise before, and I'll make it up to you."

"I wish you could," he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"I will, I'm going to find that castle and you before you have to marry Hviterussland," she swore. He smiled at that.

"I knew I picked the right girl… Alright then, a promise is a promise, I'll be waiting for you, and you sure as hell better not be late."

"I won't be," she yawned, feeling sleep overtake her. The last thing she remembered was Danmark laying down, holding her in his arms, and kissing her forehead once more, whispering in a language she didn't recognize.


	4. Reisen til heltinnen Heroine's Journey

When Norge awoke, she was lying on a patch of grass in the middle of a dark woods. The castle and Danmark were gone, and her small pack of possessions that she'd brought to the castle sat by her feet. She'd lost him because she'd made a foolish mistake, and she was sad, but she couldn't think of herself right now, all that mattered was rescuing him from the trolls before he married Princess Hviterussland. Crying over everything would do her no good now and she stood up, grabbing her pack and setting off through the forest, hoping that someone could tell her where to find the castle that was east of the sun and west of the moon.

She walked for a long time until she came to a small cottage where a pale-haired boy sat outside, tossing a golden apple into the air. Figuring the boy was better than no one, she walked up to him, not shying away from his unhappy look. "Who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Norge, I'm searching for the castle east of the sun and west of the moon," she said, getting the feeling she was going to be doing this more than once.

"You're looking for the prince," he sighed and she nodded, "I have no idea, but my neighbor might, take my horse and when you get there, beg him to return home. You'll meet a person named Finland, tell him Island sent you." She nodded and thanked him, finding the horse. "You might as well take this, I have no use for it," Island told her, handing her the golden apple, "It might come in handy for you though." Norge thanked him again and rode off towards Finland's house.

She rode until she came to another cottage where another boy sat outside playing with a small white dog. He looked up, smiling as she approached and dismounted, telling the horse to go back home, pleading with him when he didn't. Finally, the horse consented and ran off back home. "Moi, moi! Did my neighbor Island send you?" Finland asked, picking up the small white dog, "Let me guess, you're searching for the prince?"

"_Ja_, I am, would you know how to get to the castle?" she asked, guessing that since Finland already knew what she was after and who had sent her that he'd know where she was trying to go. The boy thought for a minute and sighed.

"I'm sorry, but maybe my neighbor Sverige will!" Finland beamed, running into his house and bringing out a pair of golden carding combs. "Take these, you might find a use for them, and take my horse, when you get to Sverige's house, beg the horse to come home."

"Alright…" Norge thanked him and mounted the horse, riding until she came to a third house where a tall, intimidating man tended to a garden. She dismounted and begged the horse to go home, turning to the man once the horse was galloping away. "Are you Sverige?"

"Mmm…" he nodded, "Why?"

"Finland sent me and…" he held up a hand, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Y're lookin' f'r th' prince?" he grunted in a way that made her pause and go over it several times in her mind before she could decipher what he meant.

"Finland thought you might know how to get to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon."

"No," the man shook his head, "East wind might…" he went behind his house and brought back a horse. "Ride him t' th' East Wind an' send 'im back," he told her, handing her the reins and a golden spinning wheel though neither was sure how she could easily carry such a thing, but a gift was a gift and Norge thanked him, riding off towards the East Wind who was blowing a ways away.

"You're looking for the castle, eh?" he asked once she'd explained who she was and what she wanted. "Hmmm… I've never blown that far, but I'll take you to my brother the West wind, he's stronger and has blown farther then I have, he might know!" She sent the horse back home and climbed on the east wind's back and he flew them to his brother the West Wind's house.

"I've never been there…" the West Wind said, "Maybe our brother the South Wind? He's much stronger than either of us and has blown everywhere, he should be able to help you. Climb on my back, and I'll take you there." So Norge climbed on his back, feeling very worn out from all the switching for transportation she was doing and let the West Wind blow her to the South Wind's house.

"Hmmm…" mused the South Wind, "I should take you to the North Wind, he's the oldest and strongest of us all. If he can't get you there, no one can." She hopped on the South Wind's back and he blew to the North Wind's house.

"WHO ARE YOU?" the North Wind shouted in his loud voice.

"Calm yourself, it is I, your brother the South Wind, bringing the girl who's going to rescue the prince from the castle east of the sun and west of the moon," the South Wind said, "Have you ever been there?"

"Once, and by the time I got there, I barely had the strength to make a tiny breeze," he turned to Norge, "I will take you there, but you will have to stay the night. We will need a full day of blowing if we're to get there."

"Thank you," Norge said, feeling the need for some much-needed sleep. In the morning, she crawled upon the North Wind's back and he began to blow with a power she'd never experienced before. On the earth below them, there was a terrible storm. Houses and trees were blown over like matches, the seas thrashed, and over a hundred boats were sunk by the fury of the North Wind. They flew over the water and the wind began to get tired, dipping down until he blew over the surface of the water.

"Are you afraid?" he asked.

"No, I'm not," she said, remembering Danmark had asked her something similar when he was taking her to his castle the first time.

Finally they made it to the shore, by then the North Wind was so weak he collapsed upon the rocky beach, weak and feeble. "I will stay here to regain my strength, the castle is up ahead, be very careful when rescuing your prince…" he told her.

"Thank you…" she was grateful to him for bringing her here and wasted no more time in turning and running towards the castle, figuring out how she'd be able to get inside past the trolls. The girl blinked, rooting in her pack, and pulling out the golden apple Island had given her. She stood under the window, tossing the object up and down, catching the attention of Hviterussland the troll princess. She opened the window, fixing Norge with a look that was apathetic and cold. Norge was surprised by her beauty, though refrained from speaking and just continued playing.

"That apple," Hviterussland said, "I want it." She seemed like the type of person who wouldn't take no for an answer, but Norge tried anyway.

"No, this apple isn't for sale for gold or money," she told the princess, her gaze emotionless and dull. If she didn't let the undeniably creepy girl frighten her, her task would be all the easier.

"Name your price then, anything you want," Hviterussland sighed.

"I'd like to spend the night with the prince Danmark who lives here," Norge said, putting her hands on her hips, daring the princess to take back her word.

"Done," Hviterussland held out her hand for the apple, "Now give it to me." Norge handed it over and was brought to the prince's chambers that night, only to find him asleep, snoring louder than she'd ever heard him, and sprawled across the bed. Several mugs of what seemed to have been beer were scattered about.

"Danmark?" she nudged him, only to find that he didn't wake. "Danmark…" she shoved him, "Wake up, you idiot." She tried shaking him, hitting him in the face with pillows, and screaming in his ear, but nothing could rouse him. Soon, morning came and the princess made her leave. Defeated, Norge began to think of a plan to get back inside to see him. Figuring the apple had worked, she pulled out the gold carding combs Finland had given her and sat under the window, fiddling with them as the princess passed by.

Sure enough, she saw and opened the window. "How much do you want for those?" she asked.

Like yesterday, Norge replied, "They aren't for sale for gold or money." Hviterussland looked somewhat annoyed at this and sighed.

"Name your price then, whatever it is, it's yours."

"I want to see Danmark again," Norge told her, "I want to visit him tonight."

"Very well then," Hviterussland held out her hands and Norge gave her the carding combs, wondering just what the princess would want with them. She was brought to Danmark's chambers to find him sound asleep once more, nothing she did could rouse him and she was beginning to get very frustrated with the idiot.

Meanwhile, one of the servants, a man named Litauen who had been captured by the troll king, overheard her and, since he was not fond of Russland, thought he might be able to help her. He peeked in on her during the course of the night, when she'd given up trying to wake him and settled down to sleep by the prince's side, tired from her long journey and sleepless night the night before. He recognized her from the stories Latvia had told him about his time serving in the ice castle. He waited until morning, when the princess came and chased Norge away and met with his fellow servants Estland and Latvia. They'd find a way to help the girl prevent the prince from marrying Hviterussland

Meanwhile, Norge pulled out the strangely not-cumbersome golden spinning wheel Sverige had given her, sat under the window and began to spin, hoping for one more chance to free Danmark from the trolls. Again, Hviterussland opened the window. "What do you want for it this time?" she asked, having a feeling the girl was going to ask to see Danmark yet again.

"I want to see Danmark," the two looked at each other and sighed. Norge handed it over and Hviterussland let her into the castle.

Earlier, she had given Litauen a mug of beer spiked with a sleeping potion because she was too busy dealing with the girl who sat under the window with golden objects. Litauen, knowing there was sleeping potion in the liquid and that Danmark would be too stupid to realize it for himself, switched out the mugs and took it to the captive prince who was pacing about like a cat in a cage. There, Litauen told him the whole story about the girl who had come in for the past two nights.

Norge entered the room to find Danmark awake. He blinked at her and grinned, "Took you long enough! You're just in time, I'm supposed to marry Hviterussland tomorrow."

"So we have to get you out of the castle tonight…" Norge mused.

"I actually have a plan!" Danmark announced, Litauen looked at him in complete shock. "Ya know that shirt you got the tallow on? Well, I'm going to make Hviterussland prove she's the girl for my by trying to wash it, only she can't since she's a troll, then I'll have you come and wash the shirt and we'll all be free!"

"What if I can't wash?" Norge asked as it had been one of the chores she was worse at when she was home. He shrugged.

"We'll think about that later," he grinned, hugging her tightly. Litauen left, deciding to give them some time alone to reunite properly as Norge hit the prince over the head with a pillow. The two spent the rest of the night together until dawn came and Hviterussland sent Norge away.

Before long, everyone was gathered in the main hall to witness the marriage of Danmark and Hviterussland. The princess' brother Russland, King of the Trolls, stood next to his sister, smiling peacefully. "I have a request before we do this thing," Danmark held up his hand to get everyone's attention. "There's a shirt I wanna wear, but it's got some stains on it. I want to see if my bride can get them out, and that's the girl I'm going to marry." Russland nodded to Litauen and Estland to bring the shirt and a tub of water for Hviterussland to complete the task.

She set about it, scrubbing and scrubbing, but instead of the stains disappearing, they got darker and darker! Russland frowned, "You can't wash, da?" He took the shirt from her and started to scrub, which made the shirt even darker and dirtier than before. Perplexed, the other trolls joined in until the shirt was so black, it looked like it had been dipped in ink.

"That the best you can do? I bet that girl over there can do better!" Danmark laughed and beckoned to Norge. "Can you wash the shirt?"

"I can try," she nodded as Litauen brought her a tub of clean water and handed her the ruined shirt. She began to scrub, amazed as the shirt began to lighten until it was as white as new snow. The trolls around her gaped as she held it up.

"I said my bride would be the one to wash the stains out of my shirt, and she has!" Danmark grinned and pulled her towards him. Norge looked up at him, her face breaking into a real smile as the realization that she'd won and rescued the man she'd come to love dawned on her. Russland looked furious, a freezing cold aura emanating from his body as he discovered he'd been tricked by such a stupid prince. The glare didn't last long as Hviterussland tugged on his scarf.

"Remember your promise, Brother?" she asked, oddly at peace with the events, "Now you have to marry me."

"N-N-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Russland screamed, turning and running while his sister gave chase. All the trolls went with them and to this day, no one knew what became of them.

As for Norge and Danmark, they returned back to their homeland with the servants the trolls had captured and lived happily ever after…

… for the most part at least.

_Slutten_


End file.
